32 bucks.
That's what it costs to take my family to the movies in Fremont, assuming we don't buy anything at the concession stand and the movie isn't in 3-D.
45-50 bucks.
That's how much we'll spend to go out for supper at Applebees, assuming we all order reasonably, have a soda or tea rather than water, and don't order desert.
15 bucks.
That what it costs me, per month, to belong to Audible.com, my favorite audiobook site.
35 bucks.
About what it cost me to go see my favorite comedian, Brian Regan, live at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln a few years ago.
38 bucks.
What it costs per month to change the outcome of someone's life forever. Yep, you read that right. CHANGE SOMEONE'S LIFE - FOREVER.
I'm often amazed at how desensitized I am to the money I spend. Especially the money I spend without even thinking about it. Want a Diet Pepsi? Swing through a fast food drive-thru... $1.79 plus tax. It's such a regular part of my life that it's almost automatic.
Once in awhile I think about how much I spend on pop/sodas each month. When I add it all up, it's almost depressing. I think about the other things I could be doing with that money and curse my lack of self-discipline.
A common practice in many churches is to give up something for Lent. If done with the right spirit, this can be a good spiritual discipline. Kind of like when Jesus talked about fasting and giving.
In this blog, I want to challenge you to think about something you may not have considered before. What if you made a decision to give something up....not just for Lent....but for a longer period of time...maybe even a lifetime...with the intention of making someone else's life better by your sacrifice?
Let me offer a few ideas to you:
Change a Child's Life Forever
As I mentioned near the beginning of this blog, 38 dollars a month is all it takes to change a child's life forever. Compassion International is a wonderful organization that allows you to sponsor a child for 38 dollars a month. While this might seem like too small a sum to change someone's life drastically, we need to realize that in some impoverished countries, this is enough money to ensure that a child will have enough to eat, to get simple antibiotics or medicines, or to allow them to go to school and get an education. Just to give you a small snapshot of one life that was changed by Compassion International, follow the two links below to read the story of Jey Mbiro....
Jennifer Bryant's Blog - "Thief or Prostitute"
Compassion's Biography of Jey Mbiro
The thing that I like about Compassion International is that not only do they provide for the physical needs of people, they are a Christian organization that reach out with the Gospel as well, and are equally involved in the work of changing lives for eternity.
Lend to The Poor
A little over 3 years ago, my son and I were sitting in Gambino's waiting for our order, when I picked up a magazine and read a story about the founder of Kiva, an organization that provides microloans to people in 3rd world countries. I found the article very intriguing, so I looked into it further, and what I found was pretty cool.
In impoverished countries, people scramble to make a living. Many do so by having small businesses that bring in just enough to meet their needs. Often times they could improve their situation in life if they could get a small loan to expand their business. However, in these countries, in order to borrow money, these people would have to pay outrageous rates of interest, which they simply cannot do.
Kiva partners with local organizations, and provides microloans (loans usually less than $300.00) to help people in situations like this. How do you help? It's easy - you offer to lend $25.00 (or more if you want) and join with 8 or 12 other people, whose money is then pooled together to loan to the person(s) in the third world country.
While you might think this is risky - you'd actually be very surprised. With each loan Kiva lists the default rate of loans from each partner. Most of the default rates are well below 1%.
While there is a small risk involved, in most cases you're not even giving your money away, you're merely loaning it out for no interest so that someone in an impoverished country has a chance at a better life.
To find out more, visit Kiva's web site
Help Feed the Hungry - One Child At A Time
If you're a part of Spoudazo, I don't need to tell you much about Kids Against Hunger - most of you have helped package meals or seen videos sometime during your Spoudazo experience. It's a fantastic ministry and, like Compassion International, meets both the physical and spritual needs of people throughout the world.
What Can I Do? - I'm Just a Student?
The first thing we all can do is to realize truth #1: We live in one of the richest countries in the world. Most of us have never had to unwillingly go without a meal, let alone worry about whether we will eat in the next week or so. Few, if any of us, have ever had to sleep outdoors because we had no home. If you doubt how blessed we are in America, go to the web site Global Rich List and enter your annual income and see where you land in the world's population in terms of wealth. I did some simple math and found that if you worked full time at ONLY minimum wage here in the U.S., you'd already be in the top 12% of the richest people in the world. If you worked 10 hours a week at minimum wage, you'd still be in the top 15%.
The second thing we can do is to consider truth #2: Anything I can do to help will have an impact. It doesn't matter if I can give up $25.00 every other month to loan to a family through Kiva, or give $10.00 a month to Kids Against Hunger or if I can afford to sponsor a child on my own for $38.00 a month through Compassion. ANYTHING YOU DO MAKES AN IMPACT!
Third, we need to wrestle with truth #3: Giving to God's work, both through our local church AND helping the needy should be a NORMAL part of the Christian life. In Matthew, Chapter 6, Jesus said "So, when you give to the needy...". Notice that Jesus does not say "IF you give to the needy" but "WHEN you give to the needy". Starting the habit of giving NOW only makes it easier when you get older.
Let the Truth Set You Free......
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